Painting by brush, rather than by roller, is necessary in many situations. One of the most common situations is painting a ceiling or some other structure which requires the brush to be used in an inverted position with the paint applying element higher than the handle. The problem here is that excess paint from the paint applying element tends to flow by gravity and/or capillary action back toward the handle. Eventually paint runs down the handle toward the user. This effect can be minimized by picking up only very small amounts of paint onto the paint applying element, but this tends to lengthen or drag out an already somewhat tedious process.